UES Assembly Candidate To Talk Safe Streets Policy

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A Democratic candidate running to represent one of the Upper East Side's districts in the State Assembly will answer questions on safe streets and transportation policy this month.

The advocacy group New Yorkers For Safer Streets will conduct a virtual Q&A session with young, well-funded assembly challenger Cameron Koffman on the evening of May 21 using the videoconferencing service Zoom. Members of the public can sign up to spectate.

Update: New Yorkers For Safer Streets said both Koffman and incumbent Dan Quart were scheduled to participate in the Q&A, but Quart declined to participate.

"For the first time in 20 years, we have choices for candidates in the democratic primaries. As we prepare for recovery amid Covid-19, we need leaders who have a plan and will put public safety & quality of life issues first," a notice from the advocacy group reads.

Koffman is running for the 73rd Assembly District, which has been served by Dan Quart since a 2011 special election. Quart has never faced a primary challenger. Koffman, a 22-year-old Yale graduate, boasts family connections to a real estate fortune — he's the grandson of LeFrak Organization tycoon Samuel LeFrak — and is bolstered by impressive fundraising numbers.

Quart and Koffman have been locked in a legal battle surrounding the young challenger's New York residency in recent weeks. Quart filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court in late March alleging that Koffman should be removed from the ballot. New York State election rules require that candidates be state residents for five continuous years prior to an election. Koffman used his Yale dorm to register to vote in Connecticut and voted in elections in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

State appellate judges restored Koffman's named to the ballot in a May 14 ruling. Despite his voting record in Connecticut, the appeals court ruled that the state did not require Koffman to renounce residency in New York in order to register to vote. Since Koffman maintained his East 72nd Street family residence as his permanent address, he did not break the "chain of residency" required to run in New York elections.